I just got through looking at an upcoming auction on Proxibid and saw that the buyer's premium was 27%.

WOW!! How high will these premiums go? It wasn't 6 months ago, a bought a couple of items and paid a 20% premium. I thought that was crazy high!

I'm curious how much a seller has to pay the auction house to sell items. Are they also getting fleeced like the on-line buyer?

Those of you that are close enough to attend these auctions in person, are you paying the same buyer's premium as what is listed on Proxibid? I'm curious to know if I'm already starting out 27% behind a person that is bidding in house.

Anyways, the auction I browsed had several items of interest, but with the buyer's premium that interest quickly disappeared.

Oh well it is what it is.

Last edited by lando-4; Wed Mar 22 201706:24 PM.

GregOn the lookout for Marland Oil / Conoco Globes

Please use For Sale forums to sell

Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category

Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.

I cant remember the percentages, but I know Mecum was charging a much higher percentage if your weren't local (internet buyer) too. Pretty much is making it impossible to buy anything and get a reasonable deal.

It is only a few occasions now I look at auctions, THE PREMIUMS ARE JUST WAY OVER THE TOP. I have not bought for years and I am sure nobody really cares. Someone with a lot of money are buying things.I have looked at an auction coming up and will bid on just one item, just too much with premiums on the other stuff.

I have never bought anything from a auction house other than a few things from ebay but now I am looking to buy a dump truck thru a equipment auction house . There fee is 2.5% for purchases above $2,500 to a maximum of $950 and 10% for anything under $2,500 and there is no additional charge for online or proxy bidding . Now maybe this is not a fair comparison but I thought it was worth noting. Peter

I don't like the high BPs either but I have a somewhat different perspective. When I go to an auction, I know what I am willing to pay for an item out the door. I therefore adjust my max bid based on the BP. If I'm willing to pay $500 and the BP is 25%, then I'll bid as high as $400. If its only 10%, then I'll go up to about $450. In a perfect world, the other buyers would have the same strategy.

This puts the onus on the consignors to put a halt to these BP increases, since they're more impacted. Higher BPs should mean lower hammer prices,which cuts into their take-home.

Of course this theory goes to hell when you have a couple knuckleheads with deep pockets show up who ignore the BPs and are willing to pay whatever it takes. Joe

People have often complained about eBay fees on the sellers side of the equation, yet they remain under 10% and then under 5% Paypal fees. The average auction house charges 20-25% seller fee per item and 10% buyers premium IF ANY. The seller fee covers advertising and handling of the actual sale and people required.

Those of who regularly participate in the big advertising auctions are being fleeced and are willing to bend over and get reamed too. Until participants of those auctions decide to boycott them making the auction profit spiral stop it will continue to go up and up. Rich folk always have money to blow and so those who cater to them don't worry about premiums. But they are buying the cream of the crop, about 10% of overall auction sales. It's the rest of the bidders who buy the 90%, and if they quit showing up... well then you might get a correction. But unless people get together and make a concerted effort to ditch these particular auction houses they only have themselves to blame when they continue to be fleeced and bend over for the next prostate exam.

Steve--I think Neil is right on with this. If the only buyers at a big sale, are a few deep pocketed individuals looking for a few choice items, and the rest of the sale goes in the toilet, I doubt there will be many consigners knocking on that companys door? It may be a small effort, but I have simply quit buying at ANY big auction charging those outrageous buyers premiums!

I don't disagree with anything you guys have said above. The BPs on these big gas & oil auctions are getting out of hand. However, as a relative new guy to this hobby, there are a limited number of places where I can buy this stuff:

eBay - forget it. Fakes are rampant and unless you really know what you're looking at you'll get taken.

Big auctions - fairly safe, but as everyone said, expensive.

Petro shows- Well, I still have a day job Mon-Fri and a limited number of vacation days/year. From what I have seen/heard on here, most of the action takes place during the week at these shows and I just can't take several days off and drive 8-12 hours to go to a show. That won't make me popular at home.

Personal contacts/network - For a new guy like me, not many exist yet. Working on this but it takes time.

Facebook - Some groups are good, some aren't. Sometimes good deals, sometimes not.

Oldgas - Great place but good deals get snapped up quick.

I think that pretty much sums it up for me. So I have Oldgas, Facebook and the big auctions as my sources right now. Again, I don't like the high BPs but my sources are limited.